“Creating a joint life”: life path of the family of geologists
The autobiographical tale of geologists, the Negrutsa spouses, “The Path of Love” (2002) is an informative source on the history of Russian geology, the everyday life of field researchers, and the social history of the family. The main significance of the book is that it is a socio-anthropologically valuable autodescription of a married family belonging to the scientific intelligentsia and to a certain professional group. The work contributes to the study and understanding of the processes of the formation of Soviet urban families in the second half of the twentieth century. The content of the book is considere in the context of the problems of marriage choice, matrimonial relations, the organization of extended kinship communities, family crises and conflicts, the relationship between professional and family aspects of life. The Negrutsa family belonged to the type of married families, whose unity is based on the personal interaction of husband and wife and is supported by immanent values. At the same time, the married family is influenced by the traditions of parental families, which in this case differed significantly in socio-cultural properties.